


Thin Ice

by Measureless



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M, Nursey is a clutz, Unrequited Love, because dex is a ghost, descriptions of falling through the ice and hypothermia, ghost!dex, implied drowning, little bit tragic, multiple near death experiences
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 06:11:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8737843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Measureless/pseuds/Measureless
Summary: Dex as a ghost who died because he fell through the ice at the pond. He kinda just floats around Samwell and does his ghost thing. Then one day he sees Nursey being his clumsy self and is like ‘fuck i gotta help this guy.’ Dex follows Nursey around campus and stops him from tripping over shit and whatever other clutzy things he does.(Summary cannibalized from http://zim-bone-me.tumblr.com/post/153809005402/dex-as-a-ghost-who-died-a-few-years-ago-from)





	

To be fair, it wasn’t just Nursey being clumsy. The sidewalk was icy, and anyone could have taken a spill. It was after dark, and a cold winter wind blew harshly across campus. The trees rattled their branches. No one was around.

He shivered as he looked at where his head had very narrowly missed the brick and cement bench and propped himself up on one elbow. “Ow.” Nursey’s elbow hurt.

His bag had spilled two hefty textbooks and his laptop across the sidewalk when he fell. That was what he got for leaving it open.

He climbed carefully to his feet, paying extra attention to where he placed them, gathered up his things, and tried not to die on his way back to the dorm.

  


-

  


Dex crossed his arms over his chest. He usually liked nights like this, alone on the quad. With no one around, he could pretend. He’d been sitting cross-legged on the bench minding his own damn business when the cute boy walked by in a hurry and slipped on the ice. He hated being invisible.

He couldn’t materialize much, but it was enough to keep the guy from bashing his head in at least. It only worked because Dex was already there.

He thought about following when he walked away, but he just shook his head and wandered off across the campus.

  


-

  


When Nursey woke the next morning he tried to capture the dream before it escaped him, but even as he grabbed his pen to start writing the only detail he could capture was the color red. It had been such a warm and welcoming dream, exactly the feeling he always wanted to capture in his poetry and never could. He smacked his pencil back down and tried to get back to sleep.

  


-

  


Dex liked hanging out with Mandy and Jenny. They were the nicest ghosts on campus. He was the only one of the three of them that really appreciated the hockey players’ assets though.

Mandy giggled. “They’re throwing a party tonight.”

“You should, like, totally come!”

He shook his head. Dex was invisible enough when he was alive.

He watched the party anyway, hanging out on the lawn and looking at the people wandering in. He was just about to leave and find somewhere quiet when the cute guy wandered up. Dex couldn’t help appreciating the way his jeans fit, and well, he might as well wander in and say goodbye to the girls before he left, right?

He followed the boy inside and watched him shrug off his jacket. He was damn good looking with his warm brown skin, and easy smile, bright green eyes. Dex wanted to run his fingers over that tattoo.

He spent the evening flitting around the edges of the party.

Some of the residents of the Haus were taking a selfie - those two guys who lived in the attic.

Mandy shrieked “Photo bomb time!” gleefully and posistioned herself onscreen behind them.

Dex shook his head. The party was getting to that late night wild stage. He had lost track of the hottie, and while there were plenty of cute people here he was getting bored. It wasn’t like Dex could get drunk anymore.

He walked through the wall to get into the kitchen where it was a little more subdued.

Another Haus resident - that short boy - was in here, looking drunk and worried. He was staring down a chinese guy in a sharks hoodie.

“Chowder, you were on Nursey patrol! What happened?”

“I’m sorry, Bitty! I was getting us more tub juice and then I stopped to talk to Rans, and when I finally got back I couldn’t find him anywhere! I swear I looked. I looked everywhere. No one’s seen him.”

“Try his phone?”

“I did. Bitty, I’m so sorry.”

Dex couldn’t help be curious. What was Nursey patrol and who did they lose? He followed as they started searching the Haus.

Jenny started following him too when she spotted him across the crowded living room. “Did they lose Nursey again?”

He nodded, coupling the motion with a half shrug. She knew him well enough to spot the question.

“He’s on the team. He’s always getting drunk and hurting himself. It’s pretty funny.”

He gave her a look. She could have a mean sense of humor. He wasn’t sure if that came with being dead or not.

“He’s in the tree out front.”

Dex glanced at the pair of boys looking for Nursey and followed her through the front window.

He didn’t see what was so funny about the boy in the tree.

Jenny giggled. “I’ve got to find Mandy.”

Then it was just the two of them in the front yard - the boy in the tree, and Dex. He peered closer. Oh. So his name was Nursey.

  


-

  


Nursey did not remember deciding to climb the tree. He was cold. He didn’t even have his jacket. He should probably climb out of the tree. He shifted his weight on the branch. He wasn’t sure, exactly, how to get down. It looked close enough that he could probably just jump. Yeah, that sounded good. He’d get inside faster that way and then he could get warm.

He shifted again, a little farther along the limb, where there were less overhanging branches in his way.

“Nursey! Oh good lord, what are you doing up there?!”

“Just chilling, Bits. But now I’m cold.”

He moved to stand up on the branch, legs bent to hop out of the tree.

“What are you doing? Derek Malik Nurse you stay right there!”

Nursey blinked slowly at him. He was about to ask for his jacket, at least, when the branch cracked.

He was higher up than he thought, Nursey realized, as he felt his stomach plummet. He flailed, trying to catch something. By some miracle, he caught a branch and gripped tight. It was fucking icy as hell or something. His hand didn’t slide but it was really cold. And he was dangling from one hand by a branch.

Nursey looked up to reach his other hand for a grip on the branch too. Even with his rapidly numbing hand, he felt something grip him. Nursey wasn’t holding on to anything. There was no branch. He was hanging in the air, something holding him.

He was too drunk to freak out. It was just a fuzzy curiousity he wouldn’t remember when he woke up.

Somehow he managed to get a grip on something solid and make his way safely to the ground. He was never quite sure how.

  


-

  


Dex followed Nursey and his friend back to the dorms. He only went in long enough to check which room he was in. He always felt weird about watching people sleep, the way they were when they thought they were alone, so he ducked back out.

He couldn’t help checking up on Nursey in the morning. He was fine, besides a hangover.

  


-

  


Nursey would trip and nearly fall. He’d feel a hand on his shoulder, righting him. No one was ever there. It happened over and over.

He dreamt of freckles. Or amber eyes. He could never quite put the details together into a whole, but he had a page in his notebook of one or two word descriptions.

  


-

  


Dex frowned at Nursey. He followed him practically everywhere. He smiled at his jokes, rolled his eyes at his classes, kept him from injuring himself, mostly. He was such a clutz. A literal walking disaster.

Then Dex watched him skate. The ice transformed Nursey into someone graceful and fierce.

  


-

  


“I’m telling you, I keep feeling something!” Nursey whined.

“I feel ya, bro,” Ransom said.

“What, like ghosts?” Holster perked up.

“Ghosts aren’t real.”

“Prove it, Rans.”

  


Nursey wasn’t sure how Holster convinced them to do a seance, exactly. Or why it was taking place in the attic of the Haus. Ransom just sighed and dropped the Ouija board uncerimoniously in front of him. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Holster lit candles and turned off the lights. The effect was actually enhanced by the twilight sun coming in through the window.

Nursey shrugged. If nothing else, this was kind of cool.

They sat around the board on the floor, all prepped and ready to go.

Holster took charge. “We know there’s someone there! Who is it?”

  


-

  


Mandy planted an elbow into Jenny’s side. “What should we tell them?”

Jenny shrugged and gave a slow smile to Dex. “Let’s tell them a ‘Cutie with a Bootie.’”

Dex scoffed and shook his head No. He reached for the planchette.

  


-

  


“Rans stop moving it!”

“I’m not moving it - it’s you!”

Holster took his hand off the planchette. “See? Not me.”

Rans crossed his arms. “It’s not me either.”

“Guys, it’s still moving.”

Rans gave Nursey a dark look. “Well stop moving it then.”

Nursey’s hands weren’t touching it anymore. It was still moving. It stopped on the D.

Ransom bolted from the attic.

“Sorry bro,” Holster shot out as he followed, looking appologetic.

Nursey was alone in the attic, with a possible ghost. He should probably be afraid, but he’d never been hurt. As far as he knew, Ransom and Holster hadn’t been either.

So he said, “D.”

The widget moved. “E.”

It moved again. “X.”

He waited, but nothing happened besides the candles flickering. “Dex?”

It shifted quickly to ‘yes’.

“Hi, Dex.”

Nursey asked a few more questions, but Dex didn’t reply. Eventually he blew out the candles and went home. There was no sign of Holster or Ransom.

  


-

  


Dex tried to talk himself out of following Nursey. He really did. But even on the way back to his dorm, Nursey nearly fell. Dex automatically steadied his elbow.

“Thanks, Dex,” muttered Nursey.

Dex dropped his hand away as though burned.

Nursey’s smile was brilliant.

  


-

  


Nursey started talking to Dex whenever he was alone. He hadn’t realized just how lonely he had been. Sure, he liked his team, and he was making friends in his lit classes, but he hadn’t really clicked with anyone. He still couldn’t convince himself entirely that Dex was real. Even if there was a ghost named Dex, there was no reason to think he was always around.

He still liked it though. Every time he stumbled, he swore he could feel a hand gripping him, or pulling back on his hoodie before he stupidly walked into the street without looking. That car definitely would have missed him, but it was still nice.

His dreams remained as insistant and vague as ever. They drove him bonkers. The list of words by his bed was starting to look like a poem in its own right.

So he performed it at his next slam. It went over well enough, and it left him feeling warm.

John raised an eyebrow at him when he sat back down. “So, Derek. Who exactly was that you were describing?”

Nursey felt his cheeks heat a little. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Really? That wasn’t some guy you have a crush on?”

“No?”

John smirked. “Sounded like it was.”

Nursey didn’t know what to say. It would sound that way. It was sort of true, but not-

He felt a hand squeeze his shoulder. He glanced over but there was no one there. A slow smile spread over his face as Nursey turned back to John. “His name’s Dex.”

“Do I know him?”

“Doubt it.”

That night, just as Nursey was about to fall asleep, he felt fingertips brush his jawline. He smiled, turning into them. “Night, Dex.”

  


-

  


Dex watched Nursey at the party. He was getting pretty drunk. His friends were not an effective ‘Nursey Patrol,’ but Dex usually managed to keep him out of trouble.

Jenny siddled up to him. “You really like him, don’t you?”

He shrugged. Nursey was dancing with some guy. It was cute. He was completely into it, but he was a terrible dancer. No grace. He saved that for the ice.

Mandy appeared at his other elbow. “Too bad you can’t stay with him forever.”

Dex shrugged. He pretended to look away, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Nursey.

“Really, Dex?”

“You don’t like anybody. Liking him means you love him.”

“If he died, you could keep him forever.”

He glared at her. That was not okay, even as a joke.

“Chill, Dex.”

Dex shivered. He felt like ice was crawling up his skin. It happened, sometimes. When things reminded him of that icy water-

He shook away from them and went over to Nursey and tapped his shoulder.

Nursey gave a slow grin to his dance partner. “Time for me to head home.”

The guy put an arm over his shoulders. “Yeah?”

Nursey laughed and casually removed his arm. “See you later, man.”

Mandy catcalled him as Dex followed Nursey out of the Haus, while Jenny shouted, “Get it, Dex!”

He rolled his eyes. He couldn’t even if he wanted to. Dex couldn’t stay materialized long enough. It had been a miracle he hadn’t dropped Nursey during the Tree Incident.

That didn’t stop him from pressing his lips lightly against Nursey’s when they got back to the dorm.

  


-

  


Nursey felt the press of lips and smiled into the kiss. Dex’s lips were cold, and he wished he could help him warm them up. He closed his eyes, imagining red hair, freckles, broad shoulders. He reached his hand up, seeking a shoulder or a cheek, hoping to run his hands through Dex’s hair. His hand met no resistance.

  


-

  


He sat around in the Haus kitchen. It was quiet, except for Bitty frantically baking up a storm.

“So you gonna let us meet this boyfriend of yours?”

Dex was pretty sure he would know if Nursey had a boyfriend. He spent all his time following him around, afterall. At first there just hadn’t been much else to do. Then he was fond. Now, he just really really liked Nursey. It was better than being alone. Even when he couldn’t reply, Nursey talked to him all the time.

“Nah, man, probably not.”

“What is this, your boyfriend who lives in Canada? Are you just saying that as a nice way to turn people down?”

“Bits, Chill.”

Bitty rolled his eyes and went back to putting his energy into kneading bread.

  


-

  


Nursey wondered if he should tell Bitty afterall. It was a little strange to use the term boyfriend, right? He wasn’t even sure Bits would believe him.

“I don’t know if he’s actually my boyfriend.”

“You gonna ask him, or...?”

“I guess. I’m not sure I can really see him though.”

“Why not? You’re not closeted. Is he?”

“Naw, I just can’t see him.” He grinned, but it kind of wasn’t funny.

“I’d say just ask him out, but I’m not one to talk.”

“I’m afraid he’ll say no. Say it’s impossible, that it will never work.”

“Are you always this dramatic about dating? What’s the worst that can happen?”

“Hmmm.”

Nursey waited until he was down the street from the Haus. He stopped walking. “Dex?” He didn’t feel a hand, but he was pretty sure he was there. “Will you go out with me?”

There was a fleeting sensation, like fingers brushing his cheek, but so faint it was possible he imagined it. Nursey bit his lip. There was nothing. He suddenly felt stupid and alone. He waited there a minute, but nothing happened. He trudged home.

He tripped on that same raised edge on the sidewalk he always tripped on and stumbled. No one caught him.

Curled in his bed, Nursey still muttered, “Night, Dex” to the silence around him. But it was an empty silence.

Fuck.

  


-

  


Dex paced around the Pond. Circles and circles. He never looked towards the frozen water. Not ever. But this was where he belonged, the place he was meant to haunt. He didn’t need to haunt nice guys like Nursey. He deserved better than that.

Dex didn’t leave the shore of the lake again.

It was days before he saw Nursey again.

Dex didn’t know what time it was. Late. One or two, maybe. Nursey was a little drunk, wandering around alone in the dark on a cold night. Just like the night they first ran into each other.

With a sigh, he fell into step next to Nursey, at least for as long as he was near the Pond.

He almost didn’t notice when Nursey turned away, towards the edge of the ice, because Dex still couldn’t look at it.

Nursey was standing right at the very edge, and he had no choice but to glance at it. He looked away, looked at Nursey’s face. His face was tipped up, searching the sky. “I miss Dex.” He was talking to himself. Dex almost reached out to touch him, but he couldn’t. He just couldn’t.

Nursey shifted his gaze, looking almost through Dex, looking hungrily at the ice. He stepped forward. Stepped again, out onto the Pond.

Dex swallowed. It was fine. The ice was still solid.

He couldn’t leave Nursey alone on the ice. Gingerly, as though it might not take his weight, Dex followed.

Nursey tried and failed to skate in his sneakers. He laughed drunkenly as he slipped his way along the surface.

He wasn’t so drunk that he didn’t freeze when the ice on the lake made a sharp cracking noise, loud in the late night hush.

Fuck.

Dex grabbed the sleeve of his shirt, tugging Nursey towards the closest shore.

They were so far out.

Nursey dropped down to all fours, scrambling along. Dex’s fingers twitched to help, but at this point he’d only get in the way. Nursey could make it. He hovered over him, urging him to hurry.

It was too late.

The ice crumpled and shattered, and the cold water sucked him in.

Dex sunk through the ice, grabbed Nursey’s shirt and pulled him to the surface.

Nursey fought the ice. Dex fought the water. He kept Nursey oriented, kept him moving towards the shore. Fight. Fight fight, he urged. He used his elbow the crack the ice in front of them. The ice was too thin to support Nursey climbing back on.

They were getting closer, but the water was still deep here.

Nursey was getting cold and tired. He could see the color of his skin changing.

No, hold on. Hold on.

Dex kept one hand fisted in his sweater, holding him up, yanking him slowly forward.

He couldn’t keep this up. Dex’s hand faded, and Nursey sank once below the water. Dex sank lower, panic in his gut as his head went under. But the cold water couldn’t hurt him any more. Nursey was struggling for the surface on his own, but Dex gave him a small boost.

He hovered, tried to help, but his hands couldn’t keep their form. He didn’t have the strength to keep Nursey up or break the ice. All he could do was keep him moving. Small touches, urging him on.

Nursey sank down one more time but his frozen feet must have found the bottom. He pushed up, surging through the last of the ice.

Dex grabbed at his elbow to help him to shore, his hands slipping through like they were nothing.

Nursey laid down on the ground, feet still in the water. He looked too tired to move. No no no no no. Dex grabbed at him again, pulling his elbow.

He wasn’t sure if Nursey could feel him or not, but he crawled slowly to his hands and knees.

He was going to fucking freeze.

Dex yanked Nursey’s sopping wet beanie off. He reached down gently, taking Nursey’s wrists and trying to pull him to his feet. He needed to move. Get to the Haus.

Nursey staggered up, dragged himself along.

Frantically, Dex pulled at the bottom hem of the stupid green sweater. It looked heavy, and cold. Dex hadn’t been able to feel much since his death. He felt the cold of the Pond now, deep, all the way to his core. He grit his teeth and pulled the sweater up again.

Together, they worked it off, left it on the dirty snow. Kept Nursey walking.

After a minute, he stopped Nursey with a touch to his chest. Dex worked at the button of his pants. He would be warmer naked. The weight of cold, water soaked clothing dragged at Dex’s memory.

Nursey huffed a weak laugh and helped, unbuttoning his pants with numb fingers and kicking his shoes off. “Thanks, Dex.”

Dex wrapped an arm over his shoulder and got him moving again. He had to hurry, but it wouldn’t help if Nursey fell. He might not be able to get up again.

Nursey had stripped off his shirt somewhere along the way, but he made it to the Haus. Dex had stopped holding him when he saw the frosty mark where his arm had rested against Nursey’s shoulders.

He collapsed just inside the door. He wasn’t even shivering.

Mandy and Jenny were nowhere to be found. Everyone was asleep. Fuck.

Dex flew through the upstairs. All he could find were tired, drunken boys. Who would even notice him?

Ransom. He was always more tuned to the ghosts. Dex didn’t hesitate to shake him awake with freezing hands. Ransom just cowered. He wanted to shout that Nursey needed him.

He grabbed Ransom’s hand and tugged. Please. Please come help.

Groggily, unsure of his feet and why he was following, but awake enough for his eyes to be wide and white in his dark face, Ransom followed.

Dex led him downstairs, to the front door. It was still open, the cold of the night filling the room.

“Fuck!” Ransom spotted Nursey and finally hurried. He ran over, shook him. “Nursey, fuck!”

He lept into action. Got the door shut, dried Nursey off, woke the rest of the Haus.

Bitty had soup going on the stove in no time.

They piled blankets and their own warm bodies over Nursey while Ransom called 911.

Dex held back. He had never been more aware of the chill of his own body. He wanted to press close, but that wasn’t what Nursey needed now.

He almost left the Haus. Almost went back to the lake. Instead he ghosted through the side of the ambulance, careful not to touch the paramedic or Nursey.

Dex vomited up cold water onto the floor of the ambulance. He heaved, sick. That had never happened before. He gasped a breath, lungs no longer filled with water. He looked up at the boy the ambulance was here for.

Nursey was looking better. Warmer. Still breathing.

That was all Dex could ask for.

**Author's Note:**

> I word vomited this up last night to get it out of my head.
> 
> I have no idea how realistic the scene on the pond is, or how badly Nursey would need an ambulance. I do know you're supposed to get out of the wet clothes if it's safe to do so, and get warm!
> 
> In case it's not obvious, Dex fell through the ice and drowned at some unspecified time in the past. He can't speak like the other ghosts can, because he died with his lungs full of water.
> 
> It's possible the ice broke under Nursey because of Dex - he's a ghost haunting the Pond.


End file.
